Adrian Starke
by Adrian T. Starke
Summary: Adrian Thadeus Starke was once a great soldier, but is now on the lam after witnessing the corruption that emerged after the war.  Rating may go up.
1. Prologue

Subject: Adrian Thadeus Starke.

Sex: male

Age: 32

Hight: 6'2"

Weight: 160 lbs.

Hair Color: brown

Eye Color: brown

Marital Status: single

Note: Wears modified Mk VI Mjolnir Armor. EVA shoulder and torso mods, and CQB helmet. Colored pale yellow with steel trim.

Warning: Subject is wanted for war crimes by the UNSC. Subject is highly trained and extremely dangerous. If spotted do not engage. Contact proper authorities should Starke be encountered.

The year is 2558. In the five years after the end of the Great War with the Covenant, a lot has happened. Much of what has happened involves a single person. That person is Adrian Thadeus Starke. His story is fraught with betrayal and corruption. Powerful men have made him into a fugitive, forced into hiding and to make a living by preforming criminal acts. On top of everything, the events of his exile has left his mind fractured. Starke has found himself in a semi-permanent lodging in an old, rundown water purification facility that he affectionately calls "Ghost Town". He was busy storing and organizing the supplies that he recently "aquired".

"My my my, we got some nice guns this time, didn't we?" Starke asked. No-one answered, as no-one was actually there with him. "We'll be well stocked if we need to cause some boom boom."

The payload included ten MA5B Assault Rifles, five SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifles, five BR55HB SR Battle Rifles, and two M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launchers. After he had logged the latest addition to his arsenal, Starke stored them in the interior base within a makeshift gun closet. He then continued the conversation he was having with himself.

"What do you mean obsessed? I'm just saying that if the UNSC finds us, we'll be prepared to deal with it," Starke said. The voice in Starke's head replied with a slight chide. The troubled man in turn replied, "Don't get snippy with me. If they kill me, they kill you. It's just that simple."

The day went on, and Starke went through his usual routine. He checked the electrical systems, inspected the foundations, gave maintenance to his equipment, and updated his journal. After all this was done, he used the rest of his day with other, miscellaneous projects. Today, he was working on a small, spherical device. The process was slow, due the small size of the device. One, tiny mistake could set him back hours.

Despite his current mental health issues, Starke was no less brilliant than he was when he was in service. He was always brilliant, even back when he was in grade school. His mind always set him apart. If any of his old classmates saw him in his current state, they would be saddened practically to tears.

"Heh... I was just thinking about what my old buds would say if they saw me now," Starke said, breaking the silence. "Oh, they'd probably either sorry for me, or they'd just shake their heads in quiet disappoint of what my once brilliant mind has become. Heh, I guess it wouldn't help my case very much if they saw me talking to myself, either." There is a brief silence. Starke seemed slightly disturbed.

"No, no... I don't wish you were gone. It's just that this isn't exactly where I pictured myself being in my future," more silence.

"I'm not complaining. I enjoy your company, and I'm happy as I am. It certainly better than my previous occupation." Starke fell silent. He thought back to what happened that fateful day. His thoughts began to slip away from what the device he was working on, from the cold walls of Ghost Town, from the horrors that plagued him, back to the day when the horrors began.

The year was 2556. The place, a top secret testing facility hidden on Earth. It was cold, there was snow everywhere, and it was land locked by a lake of ice. This was Project Gungnir. The original purpose of this project was to find a way of finally defeating the dreaded Covenant. That iwas/i the original purpose. However, the war had been over for three years, and Project Gungnir was... re-purposed. Today, there was a commotion throughout the the facility. The guards and staff were in a frenzy. Something has happened that threatens to bring down the project and all that it has done. Someone has gone AWOL. The guards were chasing the deserter across the frozen lake, the deserter using a makeshift rocket to effortlessly slide across the ice. In bitter sense of irony, the guards could fire their weapons at the deserter has he was wearing armor that cost half a billion dollars to produce. It wasn't long before this man had escaped the cold embrace of Project Gungnir, and it wouldn't be long after that before this man would become the most wanted man on the planet. That day, Adrian Thadeus Starke broke free of the corruption the once wholesome government project. His life would never be the same again.

As his flashback ended, Starke began to come back to reality and back to what he was doing. He put the finishing touches on the tiny gadget that he'd been working on. A small sound emanated from the now completed device.

"There. What do you think? Clever huh?" Yet again, there is only silence. "Heh, now I can finally talk to you without looking like a total nut job."

Starke carefully took a needle and used it to press a few, nearly microscopic buttons on its surface. It began to float in the air.

"Alright, here's the real test, my friend. I want you to choose what you look like." There is a pause. A long one. Starke could feel his companion thinking within his mind. Finally, after a few minutes, the tiny orb began to project a holographic image of a female, similar in appearance to the AI Cortana, accept with shorter hair and a was a light shade of purple instead of blue. The holographic girl looked straight into Starke's eyes.

"Hello, Adrian," she said.

"Hello... um... what do I call you?"

"Maya. Call me, Maya."


	2. AI: Actual Intelligence

Chapter 1

AI: Actual Intelligence

Two weeks ago, Adrian Starke created a holographic projector for a seemingly imaginary friend. As it turns out, the voice in Starke's head was far from being a figment of his broken mind's imagination.

"Maya, could you bring the oscillator online, please?" Starke asked, his hands occupied with a pair of hi-tech looking pistols.

"Sure thing, Adrian." The holographic female flashed briefly, and digits of code started blinking across her form. When she did so, a complex looking machine came to life, emitting an odd humming sound.

"Thank you," replied Starke. "You know, Maya, it's nice to have someone on my side for a change."

"I know what you mean. We share thoughts, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. Speaking of which, do you recall how you came about?"

"You wrote my base program for your cybernetic implants, and I became self aware."

"Well, that's part of the story. I've got some of the more gruesome details locked in a secure folder. I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you about it. Time for a good inter monologue."

The year was 2557. Starke had been on the run from Project Gungnir an the UNSC for a little more than a year. He found Ghost Town, and was comfortably settled in. He knew that the system would never let him go. So he had to prepare himself. For the past year, Starke had been stealing weapons from the UNSC, as well as making some of his own. In particular, he focused much of his attention to a pair of pistol weapons. Instead of firing bullets, they were designed to fire bolts of energy. Of course, not having proper facilities to craft these weapons, there were problems.

Starke was working on his Fenrir Blasters, when something went catastrophically wrong. It happened quickly, too quickly to react. All he could do was stand there a take the explosion. It wasn't extremely bad, his eyes weren't injured, and he only suffered minor burns. However, he did get a large gash that extended from the left side of his head, across his nose, and down to his right cheek. This gash would eventually leave a scar. That was the least of his problems. Over the next few days, it became apparent that Starke was afflicted by brain cancer. Two thirds of his brain was riddled with tumors. Starke didn't have very long to live.

However, as if out of thin air, the doomed man found the means to his salvation. While he was on a long walk, thinking about his life, Starke came across a body. It wasn't human, nor did it belong to any of the Covenant species. He brought it back to Ghost Town to examine. After studying the body, he found that the armor it was wearing wasn't entirely technological. Rather, it was techno-organic, a fusion between biological and technological material. Starke saw his chance. It would be simple for him to reverse engineer this technology. The problem was getting the parts into his scull.

Starke always prided himself in being able to think outside the box. His solution of this problem showed it. Starke intended to use a modified Covenant transporter to teleport the infected portions of his brain out, while simultaneously teleporting the techno-organic implants in. There was trouble getting his hands on the transporter, but Starke was determined to see this thing through. He managed to preform the operation without a hitch. Just in time, too, as the cancer had begun to affect his visual cortex.

After the operation, Starke's mind became even more unhinged than it was before. However, there were advantages to having a partially robotic brain. He now has photographic memory, faster thinking speed, and is able to store vast amounts of data. Additionally, as he needed to replace his visual cortex, he can create images, such as a heads up display and target reticles, within his field of vision.

Early in 2558. Starke decided to take advantage of his brain now being configured similar to a computer. He began writing programs for his brain as well as installing a few computer games. It started with simple calculation programs, but Starke got ambitious. He wrote an incredibly advanced program that would allow him to hack into and control electrical devices, essentially making him a technopath. It worked, for the most part. One day, however, the program stopped responding. Further more, Starke began hearing voices in his head. It took him a while to realize that his control program had in fact had become self-aware. In time, the program began to evolve and display a full range of human emotions. Starke had found himself a companion.

"Well, that was an interesting story," Maya said.

"Thanks."

"You realize that you said all that out loud instead of just thinking it, right?"

"Really? Damn." Before Starke could say anything else, Maya began glowing bright red.

"Warning! Intruder Alert!"

"Intruders? Frack!"

"Frack!"

"Frack?"

"Never mind. Can you tell if it's UNSC?"

"No. Their armor is registering freelance. It's possible their just bandits."

"Well then, let's go and greet our guests." Starke quickly put on his helmet and grabbed the guns he was working on.

"Adrian, your Fenrir Blasters... you haven't tested them yet," Maya objected.

"Then I guess we can consider this a field test."

"But, those things blew up in your face and gave you cancer."

Raising an eyebrow, Starke said "Why? You worried about me?"

"Well I, er, yeah... well like you said, if you die, I die."

"Sure sure. These things may have given me cancer, but they gave me something else, too."

"What?"

Starke smiles. "You. Now let's go take care of these bozos."

Maya perks up. "Yeah, let's!"

The men had made their way into the compound. There were three of them, all armed with assault rifles. Each of them wore body suits similar to ODST armor, each of them a different color. One was gray, one was blue, and one was red. One of them was scouting out the Pump Station, while the other two headed into the Atrium. Starke, meanwhile, stealthily made his way around the intruders and into the Tunnel. The man by the Pump Station wandered toward the Tunnel. When he did, Starke grabbed him and knocked him out.

"Okay. One down. How many more are there?" Starke thought.

"There are two more in the Atrium," Maya replied in his mind.

Starke sneaked over to the Pump Station and took up a position. He then aimed one of his untested Fenrir Blasters and aimed it at the men.

"You're gonna kill them?" asked Maya.

"No, I'm just gonna scare 'em," Starke replied. "I just hope the thing doesn't blow up."

With a gentle pull of the trigger, the Fenrir fired a blue bolt of energy. The bolt was thin, loud, and fast. The two men were startled, and took cover. Starke was elated that his weapons worked. He thought that it was time to test the second function of the Fenrirs. With a flick of his wrist, the gun converted itself into a short sword. Starke fliped a switch and the blade edge began to glow blue. Starke converted the second Fenrir and leaped down from his position. With one, fluid movement, he entered the Atrium, sliced the two men's guns in half, and kicked their legs out.

"Game over, boys."

Starke took the men into the main building and tied them up. When he left the room, they began to mutter among themselves about their situation and how the were taken down by one guy. Starke reentered the room and began to speak with them.

"Alright, let's get one thing out of the way. Who do you work for?" Starke questioned.

"No-one. We're freelancers," answered the man in red.

"What are you gonna do with us?" asked the man in blue.

"Well, I could kill all of you. But, that's not really me. However I can't let you tell people about me, so... I'm gonna offer you a chance to work for me."


End file.
